New Coalition Takes Aim At 100% Seat Belt Use

By Dave Carlson

BOISE - A clear, comprehensive roadmap is needed for Idaho to effectively address the safety of drivers and passengers on its roads and highways, the co-chairman of the newly formed Idaho Seat Belt Coalition said in a news conference today.

"Just as motorists turn to my company (AAA) for maps and routing guides to get them to their specific destinations, the first step we must take to substantially improve the safety of motorists on our roads is to map where we're going," said AAA Idaho Public Affairs Director Dave Carlson.

Addressing members of the Idaho Seat Belt Coalition, the media and the public following the group's inaugural meeting at the Capitol today, Carlson, a co-chairman for the new group, said this goal is consistent with Idaho's new "Towards Zero Deaths" strategic safety plan.

The Zero Deaths strategic plan resulted from a safety summit involving more than 100 participants last fall. The summit revealed ten emphasis areas that need attention in Idaho, including topics ranging from occupant protection and aggressive driving to youthful drivers.

"Effective today, the Idaho Seat Belt Coalition will mount a large and comprehensive public education campaign to ensure that every Idahoan buckles up every time they get in the car," Carlson said.

The group says it will aggressively pursue a goal of 100 percent seat belt use because far too many people are dying or being seriously injured on Idaho roads. The coalition concedes improvements in seat belt usage will take time and renewed effort, but Carlson said an aggressive objective is needed to "overcome a collective complacency that has lead us to believe an average of 270 fatalities each year for the past decade is okay."

The coalition's first year goal is to raise seat belt use to 85 percent, involving a strategy that depends on cooperation with law enforcement, the Idaho Transportation Department, health care providers, the insurance industry, lawmakers and others.

Idaho's 76 percent seat belt use in 2005 lagged far behind the nearly 90 percent average compliance of neighboring states. The result, the coalition says, is that a minority of unbuckled drivers and occupants accounts for 60 percent of crash fatalities.

Crash data from the Idaho Transportation Department and other sources reveal:

Idaho's 275 traffic fatalities and 1,812 serious injuries in 2005 are the equivalent of 5 fatalities and 38 serious injuries each week.
Idaho's fatality rate for all crashes, judged by the number of fatalities per million miles of travel, is 26 percent higher than the national average.
Unbelted Idahoans are clearly overrepresented in fatal and injury collisions. Twenty (20) percent do not buckle up according to the latest survey, but they accounted for nearly half (126) of all our fatalities and serious injuries (452) in 2005.
The economic impact to Idahoans for unbelted occupants who were killed or injured was $575 million in 2005.
Every Idahoan, not simply the person involved in the crash, picks up the tab, paying 85 percent of the medical bills associated with these crashes.
Idaho's $10 fine is the lowest in the country.
Idaho will lose nearly $6 million in Federal funds used for education, because the existing occupant protection laws do not meet standards established by Congress.
Officials estimate an additional 63 lives could have been saved in 2005 had everyone taken no other precaution but to buckle up.

"Those who do not use seat belts are twice as likely to die in a crash, 2.5 times as likely to be severely injured, and 1.6 times as likely to need costly rehabilitation," Carlson said. "Here's a case where a minority of Idahoans who refuse to buckle up get the majority to pay for the damage that results from their crashes."

Idaho has made some headway in seat belt use, promoting saturation patrols and mobilizations in communities throughout the state. Results of a just released observation survey place Idaho's usage rate at 80 percent, up about 4 percent in the past year, but well below the U.S. and western states' average. The coalition says Idaho will lose $6 million in federal funds that pay for such mobilizations, due to limitations in existing law.

"The gains we have made could reverse with the loss of $6 million," Carlson said. "We must not toss out tools in our box and disregard others."